Drawing and design for "Prefab House": drawing teaching and design research

The aim of this research is the definition of an executive project of a "prefab house" system through the creation of a repository of recurrent typological and technological solutions. The didactical-research project is organized in 3 phases: the first one is a documentation stage, in which information about the state-of-art of the production is collected from a technological, typological and stylistic point of view. The second phase - currently in progress - is devoted to project elaboration, developed on the basis of information collected in the previous step. The goal of this phase is to produce an executive project for several prototypes of "prefabs house”, obtained by means of the repository of optimized solutions. The third step – currently being defined for its organizational aspects - will lead to the construction of a prototype. This trial will be developed in synergy between the Faculty of Engineering and technologically related companies in the area of Ravenna. In the first experimental phase, the themes of this research have been approached in conjunction with the teaching of the drawing of architecture, with many teaching experiences on the representation of courses conducted in the Faculty of Engineering of Ravenna. The design courses have the following objectives: learning how to use representation techniques to communicate form and space; the comprehension of form through the draw; the development of the design process with the drawings; the representation of constructive systems and executive project; the communication of ideas and of project. The operational experience conducted on "Prefab Houses” case studies, offered original ideas for the inherent characteristics of these objects. These buildings, while exceptionally compact, share many features with larger buildings. These houses can be studied for their different ways to be aggregated, for their furniture, for the materials used and development of construction details. Finally, the communication of the project and its digital representation is particularly important because sellers generally promote these houses through catalogues. Specialized visualisation systems are then needed to represent in most effective way the inner-outer spaces, materials and customizations. Views are obtained with different techniques with drawings, abstract-photorealistic rendering and animation. The first phase was also the occasion for an analysis of the state-of-art of the “Prefab” production. It is a theme that has brought to well known projects. But mass production that follows these models is not that good: the first “prefab” houses were synonyms of “precarious”, characterized by poor materials and techniques, and aesthetical uncertainty. The new prefabricated houses have evolved a style, with high quality standards, an excellent optimization of environmental and energy performance, competitive costs when compared to traditional buildings and reduced assembly times. Furthermore, combining the needs of prefabrication to those of customization is felt as a general wish. Nowadays, prefab houses are flexible systems allowing design customization and, while massively serialized, they are never the same. The analysis of the projects suggested an initial classification: 1. Evolution of traditional regional houses 2. Transportable houses and direct installation 3. Partially prefabricated houses to be assembled on-site 4. Self-building kit Students have analyzed the case studies making a series of drawings: physical model studies, technical shaded plans, construction and technology details, functional diagrams and aggregate drawings, three-dimensional representations. The teaching convergence between case studies-research has considered successful in terms of teaching. We trust it will conclude positively even in the research side and that, with the activation of research conventions, will lead to the concrete realization of the prototype expected. ...